Chest Freezer Size, and heating options.

[dirtyb15]

I have been reading and reading but wanted to ask a couple quesions directly.
I was thinking about grabbing a ~7 cu foot chest freezer for fermenting. I already ordered a stc-1000 for temp control. Can anyone tell me how many carboy's (5 or 6 gal) will fit in one of the newer 7cu foot chest freezers. Also, i will need to heat in the winter as this will be in the garage. Looks like alot of folks use flexwatt to heat. Any advice on dimensions that i would need for the flexwatt? I was thinking maybe 2 or 3 feet of the 11" wide?

Thanks!

 

[MtnHiBrewin]

I'm not familiar with the size of 7 cu foot freezers. You should be able to measure your fermenters and look up the size of the freezer you'll get online or look at it in the store to figure what will fit.
I use a 13 cu foot chest freezer, and I put two buckets or carboys in it at a time. That leaves plenty of air space around the fermenters so they're not too close to the freezer walls or the heater.
I use a light bulb heater. It's cheap and works great. It's just a small fixture in a metal can with a 40 or 60 watt bulb. The can keeps the beer from being exposed to light. A one gallon paint can style can works great.
I recommend you hang your temperature sensor from the lid about halfway down in the chamber and don't let it touch the fermenter(s) or anything. That way the stc 1000 can control the air temp and any vessels in the chamber will eventually meet that set temperature.

 

[dirtyb15]

Thanks for the info, i was planning on taking some measurements today. Looks like the 7 might be on the small side, i would like to have two buckets or carboys in at a time.
So you just wired up regular incandescant and put it in a paint bucket?

maybe an upright would work better, just trying to save garage space lol.

thanks!

 

[wardens355]

In my experience, you can generally fit two. There are some that are wider and some that are longer. The wider ones may have a pretty tight fit for two fermenters. I have a Danby 7 CF from Costco, it is a bit longer than my old Fridgidaire that crapped out, and two Better Bottles fit with plenty of room. I have a computer fan in all my freezers to circulate air and prevent stratification. When I shop for freezers, I bring carboys and kegs to the store and confirm what I can fit in each freezer.

 

[tomCT]

This might help:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/chest-freezer-specs-layouts-377518/